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Following activation of the service after a lengthy post-launch downtime, many subscribers to Flagship Studios' optional Hellgate: London membership program are reporting massive problems with the system, including mistaken credit charges and unavailable access to promised content.

Most alarming among the issues, many users claim they have been charged the monthly $9.99 subscription fee multiple times within the span of a few days.

"I could sum this up as the worst online gaming experience I have ever had," Shacknews reader Tyro described to us. "I applied for a monthly subscription. I then noticed I was charged two times on 11/03 $9.99, one time on 11/04 $9.99, and one time on 11/05 $9.99."

Other users have only been billed once, but find themselves unable to use the service they've paid for.

"I checked the account pages on both web sites," wrote Mayella_EU in the support thread. "It doesn't show I have a subscription. Yet my credit card was charged."

Further compounding the issue, Hellgate customer support has been slow in responding to complaints according to many of the unhappy subscribers. A 392-post support thread on the official Hellgate: London forums has cropped up following the closure of the temporary billing/subscription forum.

Shacknews has contacted Flagship, but has not yet received a comment at this time. Hellgate community managers are aware of the issues, and promise an update on the situation soon.